Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Has $31.44 Million Stock Holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN)

Key Points

• Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. has reduced its stake in Accenture PLC by 1.3%, now holding 100,750 shares valued at approximately $31.44 million.
• Accenture recently reported a quarterly EPS of $3.49, exceeding analysts' expectations of $3.32, with a revenue of $17.73 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.48 per share, representing an annualized payout of $5.92 and a dividend yield of 2.16%.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. decreased its position in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,750 shares of the information technology services provider's stock after selling 1,305 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Accenture were worth $31,440,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 18,438 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $6,486,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 6,335.5% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 1,964 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 14,028 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $4,935,000 after acquiring an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 44.2% in the 4th quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC now owns 3,346 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $1,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Accenture by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company's stock.

Accenture Price Performance

ACN traded down $4.83 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $274.07. 4,270,498 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,295,311. The firm has a market capitalization of $171.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.46, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Accenture PLC has a one year low of $272.39 and a one year high of $398.35. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $300.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $320.74.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, June 20th. The information technology services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $17.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.26 billion. Accenture had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 12.73 EPS for the current year.

Accenture Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $5.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Accenture's payout ratio is presently 47.13%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on ACN shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Accenture in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. They set a "hold" rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Argus set a $370.00 price objective on Accenture in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. HSBC initiated coverage on Accenture in a research report on Monday. They issued a "reduce" rating and a $240.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Accenture from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $360.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Accenture news, CEO Mauro Macchi sold 500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.34, for a total transaction of $141,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $644,582.22. This trade represents a 17.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO John F. Walsh sold 2,500 shares of Accenture stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.00, for a total value of $812,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 15,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,650. The trade was a 13.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,454 shares of company stock valued at $1,646,780 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.02% of the company's stock.

Accenture Company Profile

Accenture plc, a professional services company, provides strategy and consulting, industry X, song, and technology and operation services worldwide. The company offers application services, including agile transformation, DevOps, application modernization, enterprise architecture, software and quality engineering, data management; intelligent automation comprising robotic process automation, natural language processing, and virtual agents; and application management services, as well as software engineering services; strategy and consulting services; data and analytics strategy, data discovery and augmentation, data management and beyond, data democratization, and industrialized solutions comprising turnkey analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions; metaverse; and sustainability services.